Black Espresso
by fowlfan
Summary: Sakura can't help but think that "Mr. Espresso" looks familiar.  Can she convince this amber-eyed man to buy something sweet for once?


Sakura liked working at the coffee shop. It wasn't one of those cozy, homegrown kinds, but it still was a pleasure to work at. The hours were decent, the pay was good, and the people were pleasant. Really, what more could a girl ask for?

"Excitement," Tomoyo would answer her, "You don't have enough of that." Sakura simply laughs and brushes her off.

It's her final year in university and her business degree is almost in her grasp. She could be doing an internship now through the school but had given up her spot at the last minute to another classmate. The girl needed the experience much more than she did, and it was the right thing to do.

Sakura enjoys Tuesdays the most in her work week. The shop has a new flavor for the day, and she likes to see what the new creation is. Her favorite so far has been "Peanut Caramel Swirl".

Sakura also likes the job for the cute clientele. She and Tomoyo giggle like school girls as she tells her about all the good looking men she sees.

"They like talking to me too, sometimes I have to shoo them away so I can get back to work."

"Oh, Sakura, they can't help but fall for you at first sight." The brunette blushes.

"Stop being silly, Tomoyo. They're just being polite."

"Dear, naive, Sakura. You never see clearly, do you?"

Dear, naive Sakura pays her friend no mind and continues talking to whoever is nice enough to strike up a conversation.

On a particularly normal and calm Thursday she has one of these talks.

"Li!" she calls out through the shop, holding up a medium coffee. A man around her age quickly steps up to get it. He's cute, she notes and smiles as she hands over the drink.

"Black espresso?"

"Yes, that's mine," he replies and takes it from her. He's dressed in a business suit and has ruffled light brown hair.

"You should try something with a little sugar in it," she comments as he's about to back away. He looks confused that she's talking to him.

"Excuse me?"

"Coffee tastes better with a bit of flavoring to go along with it, I find." The man actually looks at her for the first time, and then smiles. She loves making people smile.

"I'm looking for the caffeine kick more than the taste."

"Still, you should try it with some sugar, or caramel or maybe some vanilla."

"Next time," he promises. She forgets the conversation soon after with the rush of the day.

* * *

><p>"Hey look at this!" she hears Tomoyo squeal from the next room over. Their shared apartment is tiny by anyone's standards, but it's what one expects in the city. Before Sakura can move Tomoyo runs into her room and jumps on her bed.<p>

Sakura laughs as Tomoyo thrusts a photo album at her.

"I had forgotten about this," the brunette exclaims, rifling through the pages. The book was obviously constructed by younger hands, the photos were glued down in random spots on the page and copious amounts of stickers had been used in the decorating.

"Me too! Oh look, there are us in second grade!"

She points to a picture of two small children sitting side by side in a classroom.

"We were so tiny!"

"Look how short your hair was!"

They both laugh and flip the page. A few pictures more show the two girls, sometimes with other girl friends, in the classroom, on school trips. Sometimes the names of people and the date were written underneath the photo, but often times than not the two girls had to guess.

"Hmm, when was this?" Sakura asks, pointing to a picture of her and Tomoyo standing next to a young blushing boy. The two girls were laughing while the boy had his arms crossed, looking embarrassed.

"That was... Either fourth or fifth grade I think."

"Who's that cute little boy that's blushing?"

"You don't remember?"

"Tomoyo, it was fourth grade. I'm not going to remember everything," she pouts, studying the face harder to see if any memories surface.

"Li Syaoran, remember? The three of us were best friends for a year before he moved back to China."

"It sounds...vaguely familiar," Sakura amends. Tomoyo laughs.

"That's my Sakura, alright. I used to dress the two of you up in ridiculous costumes all the time."

"_That_ I remember."

"Let's see, oh here! You're in some sort of jester outfit."

The picture shows a young girl standing with a blue dress and cape with a matching hat on, the girl looking uncomfortable. The seams on the dress are uneven and loose, and one of the sleeves was longer than the other.

"I can't believe I thought I was any good back then."

"Tomoyo, you were what, ten? They were amazing."

The two continue on through the scrapbook, sharing memories and laughs. Sakura wonders how she forgot about a year long friend. She decides to shrug it off. These sorts of things just happen.

* * *

><p>"Li!" she calls out through the shop. She has remembered the conversation she had with the cute "black espresso" man after he orders the same thing five days in a row. She secretly slips caramel into his coffee now.<p>

"Hello again," she says with a grin and hands him the drink.

"My coffees been tasting different recently, are you using new beans?"

She feigns ignorance. "Hmm, not that I know of. Maybe it's just because I'm serving it, I make it a whole lot better."

He laughs. "Maybe. Next time, I promise to try something new on the menu."

"Something sweet."

He nods and takes his sabotaged coffee. Sakura grins.

* * *

><p>She can't help but think that Mr. Espresso looks familiar. It nags at her, she hates forgetting things. She can never put her finger on it. Maybe she had a class with him at the university? It was possible, but the explanation didn't stick.<p>

While pondering this one day as she handed "Li" his coffee it hit her. She slapped her face, missing the weird look the man gave her.

"Odd question for you Li, did you ever go to Tomoeda elementary school?"

He paused and thought about it. "I did come to Japan for some elementary school years. Tomoeda, Tomoeda... Yes, I think I did."

"I think we were in the same class together. You probably don't remember me. Does Kinomoto Sakura ring any bells?"

His face brightens up instantly. "Yes! I remember now. I can't believe I didn't recognize you."

"Don't feel too bad, I just realized it."

"Wow, how's, damn, what was her name...?"

"Tomoyo?"

"Yes, Tomoyo. Have you kept in touch with her?"

"I share an apartment with her," she grins.

"Sorry for not recognizing you sooner."

She brushes the apology away. "Doesn't matter. We should all hang out together, catch up with each other."

"That sounds great. We should."

In the way of the world, they don't. They never set up a specific time to meet. Sakura graduates and gets a different job, Syaoran gets a new barista.

"Oh, what a pity you never got his number," Tomoyo says afterwards about it.

"Why?"

"He had the _biggest_ crush on you in school."

"He did _not_."

Tomoyo laughs. "You were too thick to notice."

Sakura laughs with her. "Oh goodness, he did like me, didn't he? Shame I didn't catch his number."

"Oh well, plenty of fish out in the sea for you Sakura."

"I know. Not like Syaoran was the one or anything."

* * *

><p>AN: YES, that is the end. I wanted to try my hand at writing an AU story for CCS (God knows there enough out there already) that sort of makes fun of many AU stories. It has always bothered me at the amount of AU stories in the CCS fandom that have almost NOTHING to do with the original material. I respect (and love) AU stories that focus on 'What if?' situations, and sometimes I will like complete AU stories. But I get annoyed at the amount of "Sakura is a princess in this country and Syaoran is a prince in this other country-" or "Sakura is a nerd and Syaoran is a sexy, rich, popular prick-" stories. They usually don't incorporate any aspect of the original story (personalities, relationships, magic, plot, etc.) and simply take the names of the characters and plop them into their own little plot and call it an AU.

With this story I wanted to portray Sakura and Syaoran in an AU world realistically. There was no magic when they were children, Tomoyo wasn't a sewing goddess at age ten, and real life does not always have stereotypical happily ever afters. Canon snuck in at many points, however, so this isn't as AU as I had planned. Oh well.

So, now that my (far too long, I apologize) rant is over, I want to hear the opinion of other AU writers. What is your inspiration for these stories? What is your draw to them? I'm not trying to sound condescending, I honestly want to know. Thank you in advance if you reply.


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